Mega Man Force
by Ninmast
Summary: The Casketts - Legends - unearth Megaman's ancient predecessors, but when someone manages to get their hands on their old foes, as well, three generations of Mega Men will have to unite to stop them.


"How's it look in there, Megaman?" Roll Caskett's voice came over the radio as soon as he was inside. "I'm not picking up anything on the scanners."

Megaman Volnutt lowered his buster cannon as he reached out and touched the wall. "This place is ancient. I mean, all the ruins are ancient, but this place has to be one of the oldest I've ever seen! You think that the refractors powering the reaverbots might have actually gone bad?"

"I don't know, Megaman. I'm not sure the refractors the Ancients used can go bad."

Megaman went through the first door, and found himself in a room full of vacuum-sealed glass cases. "Roll," he radioed, his eyes wide. "Maybe you should come down here. And bring Data, too."

"Data? Why? What's going on, Megaman? What do you see?"

"Get down here. You'll have to see it for yourself."

* * *

Once they had seen it, they brought more equipment down from their ship, the Flutter. Soon, the area was lit up by portable, heavy-duty lighting, and the contents of the room were much clearer.

There were robots in each of the capsules, apparently completely offline. On some of them, there were patches where they had been repaired for display.

Roll was up on a ladder, trying to make out a sign that was over the doorway. She looked down at Megaman, who was over by some cables, trying to see if everything was as dead as it looked. "Hey, Megaman, I can't make out this sign. Would you give it a try? Its symbols are those of the Ancients, and you and Data are the only ones who can read those."

Megaman looked up. "Sure, Roll. Hold on. I'll be right there." He made his way between the capsules over to the ladder as Roll climbed down. As soon as he got up, he squinted, trying to make out the worn lettering. "Let's see. It says, '203rd Annual Robot Convention – Light International Museum.'"

Roll rubbed her chin in thought. "So this place is a museum? That would explain all of the vacuum capsules, and why there aren't any reaverbots."

"Megaman! Roll!" Data's high, urgent voice rung out from among the cases. "Come quickly!"

Megaman jumped off the ladder, and he and Roll ran toward the sound. They found the mechanical monkey dancing back and forth in front of two particular cases. Inside were two blue-armored robots, one a little bigger than the other, but with the same general facial design, as if they were the same person, but different ages. But that wasn't what caught them speechless. It was the face, itself. It was one they had all seen every day for the past 15 years.

Megaman stepped up to one, putting his hand on the front of the casing. "I don't believe it … It's … me!"

Roll grinned widely, clasping her hands next to her cheek. "Ancient Mega Men! How cute!" She leaned closer. "And they're all about the same age, too! I wonder if that's how old they got, or if that was how they were designed?"

Megaman could feel his neck flush. "Robots don't age, Roll."

She looked at him as if his response was completely unexpected. "You do!"

The reply caught him off guard, and he stumbled back in surprise. "Do … do I count? I mean, compared to these guys, I'm … I mean, come on! I'm as human as anyone else on the planet! My history's just a little different, that's all! _My _armor isn't even welded on! I can take it off whenever I want to! And, underneath, I'm flesh and bones, just like anyone else!"

"Yes," Data agreed enthusiastically. "Except your bones are reinforced with metal, and your skin is puncture resistant, and fireproof!"

"Data? Not you, too!"

Roll giggled, smiling widely. "Calm down, Megaman! We're only joking! We know you're as human as Gramps and I! If anything, you're _super_human!" Before he could answer, she turned back to the cases. "Hey, Megaman, there's more writing above the cases! I'm guessing it's a title plate."

Megaman leaned closer. "The first one says, 'Mega Man – The first robot to be able to act outside the three laws of robotics. Built by Doctor Light based on plans by both him and his partner at the time, Doctor Wily. Later, after the two scientists disbanded their partnership and Wily stole his robots for war-like use, Doctor Light modified Mega Man's design, then known as Rock, to make him a fighting robot. From that came the armor and arm-mounted buster cannon that even today can be seen in the upper ranks of the Purifier Units.'"

Roll looked over at Megaman. "Hey, Megaman, didn't Data say _you_ were a Purifier Unit?"

Megaman nodded. "Yeah, but apparently, that stuff wasn't as much of a staple when I served. Eden must have decided it was pointless, and changed it."

"What does the other one say?"

Megaman moved over in front of the other one. "Mega Man X – Incorporating new technological advances developed by Dr. Light near the end of his lifetime, this Mega Man, often known simply as 'X,' was more powerful than his original counterpart. However, there were also fewer restrictions on his mental processes. This worried the doctor, and he sealed X in a timed capsule set to open in forty years, when the machine would have time to diagnose if he would be stable enough to be activated. He was found by another scientist, who became enthralled with the technology and created an entire line of robots with his mental capabilities. However, the new robots were not all stable, and they revolted against their human makers, deciding that the weaker humans were now obsolete. X fought alongside the robots that remained on the side of the humans, and ultimately defeated the leader of the rebellion."

Roll grinned as he finished. "Wow. It looks like you come from a long line of world-savers, Megaman!"

Megaman rubbed his head. "I guess so!" He looked down at Data. "But why, Data? I mean, I thought all of the official robots made by Eden were Mega Men? I mean, even that diplomatic model that we faced a year ago, Megaman Juno, had that title."

Data nodded. "That's right, Megaman! All high-level anthro units are given that title. It's one of the few things that carried over from the Master's race."

"So, the Master, the one everyone was always referring to, he was one of the people who came to this museum?" Roll put in.

"Probably. It's very likely that he participated in such activities, even aided in their creation, when the age of his race was still flourishing."

Roll thought for a moment, then brightened up. "Hey, Megaman, I have an idea! Why don't you see if you can bring these two up to the front? Maybe we can scan them and find out some more about them!"

"Okay!" Megaman slipped his helmet back on to free up his arm and pushed a button on the suit to activate the hydraulic lift in the arms. He wrapped both arms around the first case. "Here we go!"

* * *

Roll stood up from in front of the computer and stretched, yawning, before she looked over what they had done. They had opened the vacuum tubes and put the robots on tables to simplify their examination. "Well, this is really strange. I've checked these two over from head to toe, and for all intents and purposes, they seem to be in perfect working order. A clean bill of health for both of them. But, as you can see, they don't look like they're going anywhere."

Megaman leaned closer, looking his counterpart in the face. "Maybe there's an on switch somewhere?"

Roll shook her head. "Not that I can tell. See these here?" she asked, pointing toward a series of lights on each of their arm cannons. "These are the only external things I can find, and from what I can tell, they're the exact same thing that's on your cannon, a power meter."

Data jumped up on the tables and danced between the two robots. "I know! I know! Their power cores have been removed! They're not moving because they don't have any energy!"

Roll nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that. But they don't seem to have a place for refractors. You think they might have been built before they were developed for a power source?"

"That would make much more sense," Data agreed. "But if you're really interested in getting them running again, I'll bet it wouldn't be too hard to upgrade their systems. From what I can tell, they use the same type of energy, just in a different form. I could help, if you want."

Roll smiled happily. "I'd appreciate that, Data."

Megaman smiled and stood. "In that case, I'll go get some refractors from the Flutter."

* * *

Roll pulled her head up from her work as Megaman carried a crate in and set it down. "Is that the last of it?"

He nodded as he walked over toward her. "Yeah, that's it. How's the system upgrades coming?"

The blonde spotter scratched her chin with the screwdriver in thought. "Well, the younger one's systems are obviously older. He looks like he's less powerful, too. All X needed was a port, but this one needed stronger fuses and higher-grade wiring to handle the extra energy."

Megaman rubbed the side of his head, completely lost in all of Roll's technical speech. "So … it's not going so well?"

She looked up and blinked at him in surprise before shaking her head. "Oh, no, no. I'm done. It was just harder, that's all. Hand me a couple crystals, one for each of them."

Megaman did as he was asked, but looked at the two 'roids in thought after he did. "Where do you put it?"

"Actually," Roll responded as she reached for the younger one's hand, "they are built to ingest it, just like you and I would eat our food, but that only works while the appropriate systems are online. Luckily, their cannon arms absorb energy. Watch!"

She held the android's arm by the wrist, turning it over and opening the palm before setting the refractor, the size of a large book, inside it. The refractor began to pulse, but it was a moment or so before they noticed it was shrinking. As it did so, the first light on the cannon lit up, blinking slowly before becoming solid, then the next light came on, then the next, all following the same pattern. The more the power built up, the faster it drained the refractor as it continued to rise until it disappeared into the palm. The panel blinked full, letting out a low beep several times as it did so.

The first thing to move was the hand as the fingers twitched, then his face clenched as he groaned, reaching up to hold his head. "Ohhh … Wow … Why do I have such a headache?" He opened his eyes, blinking as if to clear them. "Why am I online?" He looked over and saw Roll. "Who are you?"

Instead of answering him, Roll was so excited she rattled off. "It worked! He's awake! Alright!" She practically bounced around the table. "Oh, I was so afraid it wouldn't work!" She held up his hand, moving it around as he just stared in confusion. "How are you moving? Do you feel that?" She moved down to his foot. "How about that? How are your joints? Are they moving okay?"

Data jumped up on the boy's stomach. "Roll! Stop pestering him! He just woke up! Give him a break!"

He blinked. "Roll?" He squinted at Roll, looking at her closely before shaking his head. "No, you're not Roll. Who are you," he asked again.

She grinned in embarrassment, rubbing the back of her head with one hand as she offered her other to shake. "I'm Roll Caskett. I guess you could say I'm a mechanic!"

Megaman stepped forward, much to the boy's surprise. "I'm Megaman Volnutt. How are you feeling?"

He accepted Roll's handshake, but only stared for a moment at the Edenite. "I've got a serious headache, but my systems all seem to be running fine. I'm Megaman, but with two of us, I guess that will get kind of confusing. I suppose you can call me Rock. It was my original name."

"Three," Roll corrected.

Rock looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"There's three of you." She moved over toward the reploid. "He's here, too."

Rock looked shocked as he swung his legs off of the table and stood next to his upgraded counterpart. "X! What's wrong with him?"

"Nothing," Roll answered, shaking her head. "He's just offline, like you were. He'll be fine as soon as we give him some juice." She grinned as she held up the other refractor for Rock to see, then slipped it into X's hand. The same procedure passed, but after the first refractor, only two of X's lights were solid and a third was blinking.

Megaman leaned over and looked at it. "What's wrong? Why didn't it go up more?"

Rock turned to look for himself. "Was that the same amount you used for me?" When they nodded, he thought for a moment, then grinned. "Don't worry. He's got a bigger power supply than I do. He just needs more!"

Roll looked down at the blinking power meter in surprise. "I'll say. I don't think even you could hold that much energy, Megaman."

Megaman shook his head. "I can't wait to meet him. He must be really powerful."

As Rock watched Megaman pass Roll another refractor, he finally mentioned something that had been bugging him. "Do you have another name we can use for you? I'm so used to being called Megaman that it's driving me up a wall."

He scratched his chin. "Well … let me think … My Edenite title is Megaman Trigger. I guess that would work."

"Trigger?" Rock rolled it around, then nodded. "That'll work for me."

It took a total of four refractors to get X's systems to full power. When they did, he awoke in a fashion similar to Rock. Namely, holding his head and groaning. "Ooh, ow," he moaned. "I feel like I just went ten rounds with Vile … What happened?" In response to his own inquiry, his databases fed him information. "That's right … I donated myself to the museum … but why am I awake?"

Again, Roll couldn't contain her excitement. As she danced back and forth, she bore a rather disturbing resemblance to Data. "That'd be me!" she cheered. Then, once more, she was in his face. "Ooh, y'know, Megaman's older than Rock, but I think you're older than both of them! Yeah, definitely!" And she lifted his arm and poked at his middle. "And your design's way more advanced than Rock's! Your combat shell could almost pass for actual clothing!" And she peered up practically up his nose to see under his helmet. "Is that HAIR underneath your helmet? Oh my gosh, a robot with HAIR! That's so awesome!"

"Uh," Rock delicately put in, "I have hair, too, y'know ..."

But it was Megaman Trigger that got her by the collar of her jacket and physically pulled her away from him. "Again, Roll," he told her, "he just woke up. Give him a break, huh?"

The girl grinned sheepishly as she apologized. "I'm sorry! I just get so excited, I can't help myself!"

X stared at her a bit longer, as if trying to determine what to make of her, but as he puzzled over it, he glanced to his right and his eyes widened. "Rock?" he recognized his predecessor on sight. "She reactivated you, too?"

The younger Megaman nodded. "Pretty cool, huh? Who would've thought we'd end up getting put in next to each other?"

The maverick hunter blinked at the question. "Well, I just figured it was fitting ..."

"You chose it?"

A nod answered him. "I'm surprised you're back online, though. They must have done some repair work on you before sealing you up." The comment caused a troubled look to cloud Rock's face, but instead of addressing it, X turned his attention back to Roll. "It goes without saying, though, that stealing museum property is a criminal offense."

Roll back-pedaled at that in surprise. "What? But I-"

Megaman stepped between them, putting a protective hand in front of the girl. "Now, just hold on!" he inserted. "These are ruins, some of the oldest on the planet! That this was even a museum was forgotten! We're Diggers, people that explore and salvage old ruins like this for a living!"

But X's gaze just shifted to him, stern enough to cause the boy to take a step back. "Scavengers and grave-robbers, then?"

Volnutt planted his feet at that, however, and narrowed his own eyes. "No! We're not pirates, just taking and stealing! We're authorized by local governments! We've got all the proper licenses for ruin reclamation!"

Rock reached over and put a hand on the more advanced robot. "X, look around. This place has been abandoned for a long time. A lot has probably changed since we were last active, especially the laws. Don't jump to conclusions before you have all the facts. You don't even know for sure how out of date your databanks are yet."

"You're right," X rescinded, lowering his head as he grimaced. Then to her, "I'm sorry … Roll, was it? I guess I was just getting defensive."

As the threat seemed to pass, both she and Trigger relaxed, and she gave a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it. If some stranger woke me up without warning, I think I'd be a little jumpy, too."

X's scowl relaxed as he gave her a nod, then turned to her partner. He looked the youth over quickly, taking in precise details in instants. "You look like you're supposed to be another Megaman," he observed. "You don't look like one of Dr. Light's works, though. Nice buster, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not detecting any feedback loop to indicate a charge function. I also don't see any data samplers, and those are a pretty solid staple of his work. There's no reason those wouldn't be present, as you would have had to come about after my design or I'd have records of you." He motioned to his predecessor. "Rock even has samplers, and has a charge function as a hardware upgrade. I was built with both. It's pretty unlikely you're of our line, so if you don't mind me asking, why do you look like you are?"

"It goes further than that," Rock added in, pointing to the blonde. "He's got a Roll." Then his finger drifted over to Data. "And a pet."

Both bristled. "I am _not_ a pet!" Data screeched, angrily stomping his little feet. "I am an external backup storage and support device! And I happen to be his friend!"

"And what do you mean, _a_ Roll?" the mechanic put in. "I happen to be _the_ Roll Casket, one and only!"

The older android seemed almost to ignore them, nodding in agreement with Rock. "I gotta admit, the similarities are pretty uncanny when you point it out like that."

Sensing the potential for trouble, Trigger stepped between the two groups again, this time to keep Roll and Data away from the robots. "Hey, look, it doesn't matter either way, right? Because I'm _not_ a robot! I'm a human being!"

X and Rock looked back at him then, quiet for a moment, then back at each other for a few moments more. When they looked at the Purifier again, it was Rock who spoke what they seemed to be thinking. "Uh, if that was supposed to be a joke," he shrugged, "I don't get the punchline."

Volnutt stared at them in confusion, only managing a, "Huh?"

But Roll reached over and turned him by the shoulder briefly so she could approach past him. "What do you mean, a joke?"

Again, the two shared a glance. "Wait," X ventured, "you don't _actually_ think you're humans, do you? You're not just trying to pull an old robot's leg because you don't think his sensors can spot it?"

"Humans?" Roll repeated. "Plural? You mean both of us?"

"Yeah, sure," X confirmed, nodding his head and pointing back and forth to the both of them. "I mean, sure, you're way beyond the most advanced _Reploids_ I've ever even imagined, but you're not fooling anyone." Another glance to Rock, then back at them. "Well, at least, not the two of us. Why _wouldn't_ I mean both of you?"

"Because Megaman Trigger is an artificially-created anthro unit," Data _helpfully_ provided. "As such, he has a number of augmentations regular people don't have!"

The Purifier rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Yeah, yeah, metal bones, no-tear skin, thanks for picking a wonderful time to bring _that_ conversation back up. But it doesn't matter. Just because I'm different doesn't mean I'm not human. I go through all the same organic functions. I eat, I drink, I produce waste, I sleep, I age ..."

"You walk in on Roll while she's in the- ee-eek!"

Data's own interruption was cut short as Roll tackled the monkey to the ground. "That's more than enough information, Data!"

Meanwhile, Trigger was red in the face, poorly attempting to laugh it off while rubbing the back of his head. "That was an accident!"

"Both times?"

"_Data!_"

"Ee-ee!"

Fortunately, the awkward situation was interrupted by their radios. "Roll! Megaman! Are you two there?"

"That's Gramps!" the blonde gasped as she scrambled for her feet.

Trigger nodded as he touched the side of his helmet. "We're here, Doctor. What's wrong?"

"You two better get back to the surface quick! The Flutter's radar is picking up incoming ships. They look like pirates!"


End file.
